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No `stupid tricks' on live exports: Saudis

Saudi Arabia wants assurances there will be no "stupid tricks" such as a live export trade ban before it signs a deal accepting Australian cattle, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says.

Mr Joyce has been in talks with Saudi government and industry officials to ink a lucrative deal, getting the Middle Eastern nation to import Australian livestock.

However, Mr Joyce says the Saudis are concerned Australia could "play stupid tricks" on it by imposing an industry-wide ban on live exports as it did in 2011, following revelations about animal cruelty in export countries.

Saudi officials felt offended by any potential trade lockdown because it would imply that Australia was somehow morally superior in its treatment of animals.

Mr Joyce said Australia had one of the most stringent codes on animal welfare treatment in the world and if Saudi Arabia didn't import Australian livestock, it would find it from countries that didn't have the same high standards.

"If we want to grow our trade and relationship in the Middle East, like we are with Asia, then we have to be a reliable supplier of products they want," he said.